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Australians urged to waste not want not over Christmas

MARK COLVIN: Australians are expected to spend about $10 billion on food over the Christmas period, but a staggering 35 per cent will be wasted and end up as landfill.

The food rescue group OzHarvest, which collects left-over food and distributes it to charities, says it will pick up about 150 tonnes of food over December.

Meanwhile the environment group Planet Ark is urging Australians to do what they can to reduce food waste.

Lindy Kerin reports.

LINDY KERIN: In inner city Darlinghurst, OzHarvest is picking up more than 600 meals.

They've been prepared by chef Megan Williams and her team.

MEGAN WILLIAMS: What do we have? We have cottage pie, meat and vegetarian quiche, and we also made some Moroccan pizzas today too - fresh dough, which is fantastic.

LINDY KERIN: The food rescue charity group OzHarvest will distribute these meals to the needy.

Oz Harvest driver Marcel heads back out on the road.

He says the level of waste increases significantly at this time of year.

MARCEL: There's more waste at this time of year probably than at any other and that's because as we approach Christmas, everyone likes to party, everyone likes to have more food, more drink, and that's both the corporate sector, many small businesses - basically, anyone who's giving their staff sort of a season's greetings festivities event.

And that means that for OzHarvest, it's a very busy time for pickups but it's also a very busy time for deliveries, because all the charities want to make sure that the people that they serve and the people that they support are able to participate in the festive season and not miss out because of financial or other hardship.

So it's a special time for us, and we do the very best we can to pick up as much food as we can and get it as quickly as possible to the charities and into the hands and the mouths of those that need it.

LINDY KERIN: Ronni Kahn is the founder and CEO of OzHarvest.

She says the group is currently distributing to more than 400 charity and welfare agencies.

RONNI KAHN: From mid-October to the end of December, we call this our harvest period.

It's the time to collect as much as we can, because there's an abundance of food being shared around with those people who have.

I just got a call that there's 75 kilos of dark chocolate, magnificent dark chocolate which will be beautiful as part of hampers.

We're collecting the equivalent of around 140 to 150 tonnes a month - that's just in Sydney. That's about 20 tonnes more than usual.

LINDY KERIN: The shocking level of waste is of great concern to the environment group Planet Ark.

Janet Sparrow is the manager of the group's recycling programs.

JANET SPARROW: As a nation, we're expected to spend $10.1 billion on food this December, yet we're still sending 35 per cent of what we send to landfill as food waste.

So there's a lot of food waste being thrown out, and we've got a lot of room for improvement over this period.

LINDY KERIN: So why is that the case, do you think? Why is so much food being wasted?

JANET SPARROW: I think it's probably for a number of reasons, and they really have to do with the things that you can do with the things that you can do to prevent it in the first place.

Planning ahead is a really key part of reducing food waste, and also thinking about your leftovers - what you're going to do with your leftovers after the big feast, how you're going to store them, and whether you're going to share them with your friends and family that you're celebrating with.

They're really key things that you can do this Christmas to reduce your food waste.

LINDY KERIN: The group has just launched an education campaign to encourage Australians to think about how they can reduce their environmental impact over the festive season.

It says every year Australians generate about 361 kilograms of food waste per person.